Published: Monday, June 2, 2014 at 2:48 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, June 2, 2014 at 10:45 p.m.

A sinkhole has opened up behind the Campus USA Credit Union headquarters near Newberry Road in Jonesville, although Alachua County Environmental Protection Director Chris Bird said Monday it doesn't appear to be an "imminent hazard."

The sinkhole is located behind the credit union on private land known as the Jonesville Plaza property, for which Tioga Town Center LLC is the managing partner, company President Gil Levy said. The property is up for sale.

Levy said the sinkhole was scheduled to be taken care of this morning at 7:30 by a contractor. He told The Sun he knows of two sinkholes in the retention pond by the fence line of the property, which they've had to deal with repeatedly over the past year.

"It's a problematic issue and it's been plugged a number of times," Levy said.

It isn't uncommon for these things to happen with retention ponds, he said. They've plugged up the sinkholes in the pond only to have them open up again after a heavy rainstorm.

The farmer that uses the property has fenced around that section of the land because he was afraid of cattle walking around that particular area, he said.

Someone from the county EPD went to check out the sinkhole Monday, and Bird said his department will continue to monitor the situation.

If the sinkhole were near a building or a roadway, it would definitely be more of a concern, he said. While it doesn't appear to be a threat to the drinking water supply, the property owner still needs to fill it up and fix it because otherwise untreated stormwater could flow directly into the Floridan aquifer through the sinkhole.

The county EPD will follow up by working with the local health department to make sure no private drinking-water wells are in the vicinity, which could be of particular concern due to the sinkhole.

Bird explained it isn't unusual to see instances of collapse around this time of year when an area is getting a lot of rain.

"The weight of the water is just like finally collapsing," he said.

Sometimes collapse can occur within stormwater basins, especially in the western part of the county, he said.

"In the last two or three years, we've had similar sinkholes opening up in these stormwater basins and this isn't the biggest one," he said.

They tend to see more of this west of Interstate 75 where the area is more karstic, he said. The geology of western Alachua County is more prone to collapse than that of eastern Alachua County.

It was fairly quiet late Monday afternoon by the fence line of the field with the sinkhole, where cows grazed safely away from the cavity in a fenced-off area farther back from the property line.

The sinkhole was clearly visible where the ground had crumbled away along the bank of the retention pond, exposing orange and brown dirt.

Across the street at Campus USA Credit Union's tan-and-brown headquarters, general counsel Gabe Hamlett said he knew of around five sinkholes that had opened up on the nearby property, including the more visible one, which he said the staff first noticed about a month ago.

"It started off pretty big," he said. "And then we noticed it got quite a bit bigger over the weekend."

They can see it from the third floor of their office, so the staff has been keeping an eye on it just to see what happens, he said.

Another sinkhole that opened up in the retention pond sucked all the water in when it first opened but seems to have filled in, since the retention pond is holding water again, he said.

When the credit union built its administrative offices there, they knew the area was prone to sinkhole activity and took preventive measures to protect against that, he said.

Stephanie Dunne and her family stopped by the sinkhole Monday afternoon to check it out. They were just visiting for a couple days from Michigan, although they're from the Gainesville area originally, she said, and figured it was worth dropping by to take a look.

Her son Noah surveyed the sinkhole, video camera in hand, while her 2-year-old daughter munched on blackberries her father plucked from where they grew along the fence.

Eight-year-old Noah is especially interested in science. "So it's just super cool that he's getting to see it," she said.

They've seen Devil's Millhopper, which she pointed out is so large in scale compared to the beginnings of a sinkhole like this one.

<p>A sinkhole has opened up behind the Campus USA Credit Union headquarters near Newberry Road in Jonesville, although Alachua County Environmental Protection Director Chris Bird said Monday it doesn't appear to be an "imminent hazard."</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The sinkhole is located behind the credit union on private land known as the Jonesville Plaza property, for which Tioga Town Center LLC is the managing partner, company President Gil Levy said. The property is up for sale.</p><p>Levy said the sinkhole was scheduled to be taken care of this morning at 7:30 by a contractor. He told The Sun he knows of two sinkholes in the retention pond by the fence line of the property, which they've had to deal with repeatedly over the past year.</p><p>"It's a problematic issue and it's been plugged a number of times," Levy said.</p><p>It isn't uncommon for these things to happen with retention ponds, he said. They've plugged up the sinkholes in the pond only to have them open up again after a heavy rainstorm.</p><p>The farmer that uses the property has fenced around that section of the land because he was afraid of cattle walking around that particular area, he said.</p><p>Someone from the county EPD went to check out the sinkhole Monday, and Bird said his department will continue to monitor the situation.</p><p>If the sinkhole were near a building or a roadway, it would definitely be more of a concern, he said. While it doesn't appear to be a threat to the drinking water supply, the property owner still needs to fill it up and fix it because otherwise untreated stormwater could flow directly into the Floridan aquifer through the sinkhole.</p><p>The county EPD will follow up by working with the local health department to make sure no private drinking-water wells are in the vicinity, which could be of particular concern due to the sinkhole.</p><p>Bird explained it isn't unusual to see instances of collapse around this time of year when an area is getting a lot of rain.</p><p>"The weight of the water is just like finally collapsing," he said.</p><p>Sometimes collapse can occur within stormwater basins, especially in the western part of the county, he said.</p><p>"In the last two or three years, we've had similar sinkholes opening up in these stormwater basins and this isn't the biggest one," he said.</p><p>They tend to see more of this west of Interstate 75 where the area is more karstic, he said. The geology of western Alachua County is more prone to collapse than that of eastern Alachua County.</p><p>It was fairly quiet late Monday afternoon by the fence line of the field with the sinkhole, where cows grazed safely away from the cavity in a fenced-off area farther back from the property line.</p><p>The sinkhole was clearly visible where the ground had crumbled away along the bank of the retention pond, exposing orange and brown dirt.</p><p>Across the street at Campus USA Credit Union's tan-and-brown headquarters, general counsel Gabe Hamlett said he knew of around five sinkholes that had opened up on the nearby property, including the more visible one, which he said the staff first noticed about a month ago.</p><p>"It started off pretty big," he said. "And then we noticed it got quite a bit bigger over the weekend."</p><p>They can see it from the third floor of their office, so the staff has been keeping an eye on it just to see what happens, he said.</p><p>Another sinkhole that opened up in the retention pond sucked all the water in when it first opened but seems to have filled in, since the retention pond is holding water again, he said.</p><p>When the credit union built its administrative offices there, they knew the area was prone to sinkhole activity and took preventive measures to protect against that, he said.</p><p>Stephanie Dunne and her family stopped by the sinkhole Monday afternoon to check it out. They were just visiting for a couple days from Michigan, although they're from the Gainesville area originally, she said, and figured it was worth dropping by to take a look.</p><p>Her son Noah surveyed the sinkhole, video camera in hand, while her 2-year-old daughter munched on blackberries her father plucked from where they grew along the fence.</p><p>Eight-year-old Noah is especially interested in science. "So it's just super cool that he's getting to see it," she said.</p><p>They've seen Devil's Millhopper, which she pointed out is so large in scale compared to the beginnings of a sinkhole like this one.</p><p>"But now you can see this is how that started," she said.</p><p><i>Contact Morgan Watkins at 338-3104 or morgan.watkins@gainesville.com.</i></p>